The report will be based on the article, "iPhone 7 release date, news and rumours", by John McCann which was published in techradar.com, on 21st March 2016, http://www.in.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/iPhone-7-release-date-news-and-rumors/articleshow/48900392.cms.
This article is about the Apple's new release iPhone7, which deals with the features and comparisons of iPhone7 with the earlier versions, and how it will be better than those versions. The article tells about the release date of the phone, its features, design, comparison with the rivals and costing. The article says almost everything about Apple's iPhone7. In this article, the author has mentioned almost all the details associated with the product, which a buyer would like to know. This article is abundant in information about a new product which is about to be launched, so I felt this would be a good choice to study on the product life cycle.
The article is about Apple's new launch, iPhone7 which is a consumer product. iPhone, the name itself says everything, and in the minds of consumers, it is the synonym to technology and quality. iPhones are known for their unique features, sleek body, and powerful technology inside (Apple, 2016). The iPhone7 is supposed to be launched at the end of the year 2016. According to (McCann, 2016), iPhone7 might come with big changes in design, power and other features. It is expected to be released in the market at the end of this year. Apple has not released the design and features of its forthcoming iPhone7, but as per (McCann, 2016) and market speculations about the phone that it would have all metal body along with a completely new kind of screen technology. It will be a waterproof phone coming up with a new technology called "Pixel Eyes" which allows the user to touch the screen with wet fingers too. Experts say that iPhone7 would be sleeker that iPhone6 and iPhone6plus. It is also expected that Apple will switch from LCD display to OLED display from iPhone7. The articles also mention about the biggest competitors if iPhone7 in the market would be Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge, also, HTC One M10 could be an alternative to Apple's iPhones for customers. And Apple's own iPhone SE might also be a competition to iPhone7 with it's a palm friendly size and affordable price tag. iPhone7 is also expected to have improved camera technology and on OS (operating system), it is expected to be launched with iOS 10. As it is speculated that the company is going to further slim down the iPhone7, it would need special headphones and adapter as the jack size will also be reduced. Finally, the exact costing of the phone is not being declared but will be on the higher side initially might be even higher than iPhone 6 and 6S (McCann, 2016).
Any product introduced in the market has its own life and undergoes different stages, which is known as product life cycle (Hofstrand, 2007). The figure bellows show the different stages of the PLC of Apple products. The PLC of Apple is slightly different when compared with the PLC of other electronic devices. Generally, when a product is introduced in the market, consumers would slowly accept the new product or technology, then it enters into the growth stage, then maturity and gradually declines, by making an S-curve of product life cycle (Duggal, 2011). But in the case of Apple, except for its iPod, for which the general PLC happened, but for the iPhones the initial sale happens in the first two years of the introduction of the new product and then suddenly dries up. As in the figure below, due to the huge brand recognition, the product straight away enters from the introduction stage to maturity stage, then due high brand loyal customers, the curve will not come down in the decline stage, and innovation takes place and the same pattern follows. In the case of iPhone7, the new innovation of Apple and would be launched at the end of this year, the PLC curve will be as shown below from innovation to growth to maturity to decline. The Company, as per the forecasts and speculation is coming up with an innovative screen of iPhone7, better battery life, more sleek, iOS 10, and advanced camera. The brand loyal customers eagerly wait for the new phones of Apple to reach the market.
Figure 1: Product Life Cycle of Apple
Source: (Duggal, 2011)
The considerations associated with iPhone7 is the very high cost for the mobile phone which will not suit to every pocket, but the target audience and the loyal customers are ready to pay the amount to experience the best technology in mobile phones in the market. Another issue associated with iPhone7 is the smaller size of headphone jack which was required to slim down the device, that means the customer will need special headphones and adapter for the device (McCann, 2016). Apart from this, iPhone7 is expected to be a much better version of iPhone6 and iPhone6S and the loyal audiences of the company are eagerly waiting for the launch.
References
Apple. (2016). Why there's nothing quite like iPhone. Retrieved from www.apple.com: http://www.apple.com/iphone/why-theres-iphone/
Duggal, S. (2011, November 26). Forecasting for Apple Products. Retrieved from www.wordpress.com: https://sameerduggal.wordpress.com/tag/product-life-cycle/
Hofstrand, D. (2007). Product Life Cycle. Iowa: Iowa State University.
McCann, J. (2016, March 21). iPhone7 release date, news and rumours. techradar.
